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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: A Child is Born
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingwor
kshop.org/).
Prepared by: Carter Jefferson
Posted on: 18 February 2007
Reposted on: 11 May 2008
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a scene in which a birth plays an
important
part, and show at least the beginnings of the changes this might cause.
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Birth can be an occasion for joy, something to celebrate with flowers
and gifts, or it
may be a disaster for everyone concerned. Sometimes it even comes as a
surprise. It
may take place in a hospital, an ordinary bedroom, or a cotton field.
In any event, it
causes change--in a happy family, in the life of a single mother, or in
the hopes of
succession for the children of a king.
For this exercise, you need not show your readers the actual birth,
though you
certainly may, but make sure the scene shows how the event is received
by the people
it will affect and indicates something of the changes it precipitates.
-------------------------
Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a scene in which a birth plays an
important
part, and show at least the beginnings of the changes this might cause.
-------------------------
In your critiques, note how well the writer has constructed the setting
and shown us
authentic characters acting in believable ways. What do we learn of the
characters
from their reactions to the birth? What future actions does the scene
foreshadow?
Would you like to read more of the story? And, as usual, pay attention
to all the
technical concerns that go into good writing.
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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